Russians turn to cash and paper maps as internet outages spread, Russia’s Central Bank says
Demand for cash among Russians rose in March and April, Russia’s central bank said in a summary of key rate discussions published on May 7.
“This may have been linked, among other things, to adaptation to tax changes, as well as temporary internet disruptions and the population’s desire to have a reserve of payment methods that does not depend on digital infrastructure,” the bank said.
Meanwhile, the Russian state news agency TASS reported that paper maps were seeing record interest. The press service of AST Nonfiction, an imprint of AST, one of Russia’s largest publishing houses, said demand for books in the “Road Atlases and Maps” category rose 55 percent in monetary terms year over year amid news about internet restrictions — though the statement did not specify which period it covered.
Bookstores were among the first to notice the growing demand for topographic maps, back in March.
Russian authorities regularly shut down mobile internet in various regions, citing the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes. Ahead of May 9, authorities in half of Russia’s regions warned they might cut mobile internet access. In Moscow, a large-scale outage occurred on May 5. The city is also expected to go without internet on May 9.
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